Reprinted with permission from the January 15th, 2024 edition of People Magazine

PEOPLE: Wow, so much has happened over the past year. Where to start?

GORN: [laughs] Yes, if you told me I’d be assuming public office at ANY point of my life I’d have a hard time believing you. But that’s Aragorn for you, right? He’s a bright star and just pulls you into his orbit.

PEOPLE: There *was* some controversy after the break-in scandal at Bree-

GORN: I don’t know anything about that, so really am not able to comment on it.

PEOPLE: And the imprisonment of the opposition party leaders, Spock and the Nazgûl-

GORN: Listen, I’ve talked about this before. Before joining Aragorn on the GORN ticket, I had very little experience in politics. And I was not personally involved in any day-to-day campaign activities, and am on record as not being in agreement with the incarceration of Spock or the Nazgûl. I believe if you have good ideas and good leadership, people will respond to that – you don’t need to silence other voices. Can we move on to other topics?

PEOPLE: Of course. Our readers would be disappointed if we didn’t at least touch on the campaign and your experience there.

GORN: Understood. It sells magazines.

PEOPLE: What no one expected was Spock and Aragorn forming the rock supergroup Spockagorn and leaving the political arena for arena rock.

GORN: I was just as surprised as anyone. I mean, I know Spock and Aragorn have their musical chops, but I didn’t see it coming. When Aragorn showed up at the Spock/Nazgûl concert and they started jamming, it was magical.

PEOPLE: You yourself are quite musical, aren’t you?

GORN: Hah. Well, I dabble. I’m more of a connoisseur of music than a practitioner.

PEOPLE: With Spockagorn taking the nation by storm, you probably had a lot of time on your hands. Apart from music, what have you been up to?

GORN: Well, plenty of people wanted the insider perspective on the campaign as well as the emergence of Spockagorn. I had fun doing lots of interviews, though thankfully that’s slowing down. I’m tired of talking. [laughs]

PEOPLE: What’s a day in the life of Gorn now that things are settling down for you a bit?

GORN: Lately, I’m catching up on films I’ve been meaning to watch. I’m also pursuing some old hobbies like collecting action figures.

PEOPLE: Is there a “holy grail” action figure you are looking for?

GORN: I’m actually quite fond of action figures of people I know in real life. I have a couple old Spock figures from the 1960s. I’m always on the lookout for an Aragorn action figure, but those are far less common. I have a very worn “King” Aragorn but it’s missing a belt and left hand. Would love to get a nicer one. I guess we’ll see!

PEOPLE: Thanks for your time.

GORN: My pleasure.